If there is one verse form the Bible that Christians are likely to be able to recite verbatim, it is John 3:16 which goes:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The drone campaigns in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and who knows where else have resulted in the deaths of many innocent people who just happened to be there and of these many were children. Robert Dreyfuss writes about the remarkably callous attitude some in the military take towards these deaths. [Read more…]
People who are perceived to be overweight according to the norms set by society have a tough time. We live in a media-saturated world in which thinness is not only treated as a desirable marker of good looks and good health, it is also seen as somehow virtuous and hence people who are above the norms in weight are seen as being somehow morally weak and lacking in will power to control how much they eat. This is despite the fact that it is not at all clear what a person’s optimum weight should be, how much it is affected by distribution and body shape and age, what causes some to be heavier than others, and even whether being overweight is as extremely unhealthy as it is sometimes made out to be. [Read more…]
Movie: The Movie has everything and everybody to satisfy every filmgoer. I showed earlier the story behind the making of this film but did not realize that there was a long form trailer trailer that shows more clearly what the movie is about, or at least would be about if it ever got made. [Read more…]
It turns out that the National Rifle Association maintains an official list of organizations and individuals whom it perceives as being anti-gun. The has been quickly dubbed far and wide as an ‘enemies list’. [Read more…]
NBC News released today a leaked copy it had obtained of the memo that the Obama administration has created that it claims justifies its murdering of anyone whom it considers its enemies, including its own citizens, anywhere in the world . According to the BBC: [Read more…]
For nonbelievers like me, one of the most irritating aspects of the US tax system is the tax-exemption given to churches under the section of the code known as 501(c)(3) that is meant to provide tax relief for organizations that improve the general welfare. This topic has been discussed before in the context of whether churches that overtly take political stands should continue to receive that benefit and I concluded that it was unlikely that the IRS or the courts would eliminate it. [Read more…]
I wrote last week about the religious alternatives to watching yesterday’s Super Bowl halftime show. For those who were not thrilled by the prospect of hearing testimonies by athletes or lessons from the Torah or dislike football entirely, I just heard that Animal Planet channel has for some years been counter-programing the Super Bowl with something called the Puppy Bowl that is apparently quite popular. [Read more…]
I wrote recently that Lawrence Wright had released what looks like an interesting and pretty thorough book on the Church of Scientology that is titled Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. In an interview, he describes some of the weird things that he discovered. What they do to dissidents and young people is awful. [Read more…]
Janson Wu is a staff lawyer with GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) who last year won the David Carliner Public Interest Award given by the American Constitution Society for his work for equality. He played a key role in persuading the New Hampshire legislature to pass marriage equality legislation in 2010 and more recently worked with a 12-year old trangender girl named Nicole Maines in beating back an attempt to create an exemption to Maine’s anti-discrimination laws that, if passed, would require trangender people to use the bathroom that matched their sex at birth. [Read more…]